*Invasive procedures and cosmetic creams have spawned a multi-billion dollar industry. This, in turn, has created a global skin color bias. Kavitha Emmanuel, the founder of the organization ‘Women of Worth’ and the woman behind the “Dark is Beautiful” campaign, said, “It starts when children are young: the moment a child is born, relatives start comparing siblings’ skin color. It starts with your own family – but people don’t want to talk about it openly.”

People have started believing in the perfect life that can be attained by having the perfect skin due to this very reason. The cosmetic industry keeps coming forward with intravenous injections, whitening steroids, laser treatments and skin bleaches which can get you to the right ‘shade’. Not only does this sound harsh but it has already made its way into many cultures as an obsession.

Transformation or Deformation?

Lightening creams have the ability to induce a pigment into the user’s skin called melanin. How much of this you naturally produce depends on your genes. It was found that darker skinned people with the natural production of melanin tend to form very fewer wrinkles as opposed to lighter skins and also have a lesser risk of getting skin cancer. Is this not beautiful on its own?

Lightening creams work in a manner to deform the natural production of melanin in our skins. They have ingredients such as arbutin, liquorice, and soy which combine to form what is known as hydroquinone. This lightening agent is famously known to be a carcinogenic agent (they have the ability to cause cancer) and these products have been banned in the Ivory Coast, European Union, South Africa, and Ghana.

Some lightening soaps and creams were even found to have mercury in them and this was identified by the WHO. Other than suppressing the natural production of melanin, mercury can cause severe damage to the brain and kidneys of its users!

Because of these recent developments, a lot of changing attitudes have been noticed; one of these being the wide acceptance of the diversity of skin tones. Actress Emma Watson, known for playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, also got a lot of attention recently for the same reason. She stopped representing a lot of products that did not feature darker skinned model or were known to be dangerous.

We should all work to create awareness and to correct the world’s perception. If we do, the world will agree that Black is and has always been beautiful.

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